Duck, duck ... fish! Learning to fly the hard way

IT ISN'T easy being a mum - especially when a curious neighbour gets a little too close to your newborns.

Waikerie woman Janine Gaskell had been waiting for half an hour to take the perfect shot of a mother duck with her eight ducklings when a photobombing carp sent the duck into a protective frenzy.

Ms Gaskell was on a trip to Blanchetown when she witnessed the protective mother duck dive into the water to scare away the too-close carp.

"I had been sitting there patiently trying to get the perfect duckling shot," Ms Gaskell, 53, said. "It was like trying to take a group photo - there is always one that won't co-operate."

Ms Gaskell said she had seen the carp swimming close to the family before the mother duck went on the attack. "She just went for it," Ms Gaskell said. "She leapt straight up in the air and scared the hell out of the fish."

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